11. A Visit to Naruto's Apartment

After the classes are over, Shizue and Hinata walked home together. Shizue escorted Hinata to her house first and returned to her house.

When Shizue arrived at her home, she went straight towards her mother and "Mom!! Hinata and I made friends today."

Shizuka smiled at her daughter and asked "Oh, how many did you guys make?"

"Three! Two boys from Nara clan, and Akamichi clan and an orphan boy called Naruto Uzumaki." Shizue answered and continued "Told you it's not that I can't make friends, I just didn't want to." she said, just like author tries to convince his friends and himself about getting a girlfriend.

Shizuka's pupils slightly widened at the mention of Naruto but she nonetheless composed herself and asked "Hmmm, all of them are boys. What about girls in your class?."

Shizue shrugged before answering "These three guys are the only ones that seemed pretty chill. And all the girls except Hinata are vicious little monsters, so I'm no getting involved with them. Oh I almost forgot, that Naruto guy seemed to have serious financial and other problems that he can't even eat nutritious meals. And he seemed to be an interesting guy so I decided to sponsor him for his meals."

"Oh, what about this Naruto boy that caught your interest??" Shizuka asked curiously.

"Well first of all despite clearly being mistreated, he still seems to be carefree and optimistic. He apparently even wanted to become a Hokage. And most importantly, we can't have the Kyuubi Jinchuriki rampaging because he's hungry, can we?." Shizue replied.

"H-huh!! How do you know about that!!?" Shizuka panicked.

"Hmm? I thought everybody knows about it. I mean, the kids are calling him demon fox and stuff after all. And there's masked guys watching him all the time like hawks, he's seven years old, and the Kyuubi attack is seven years ago. And you taught me that every village has their own Jinchuriki. So yeah, it's pretty easy to guess." Shizue explained while shrugging her shoulders.

"Sigh.....don't tell anyone okay?. That is supposed to be a secret. And what are you doing, using Byakugan in the academy?" Shizuka sighed and asked.

Shizue replied "Well, I was checking out the other kids' chakra levels to see how they compare to mine. By the way, only Naruto's could match mine." and asked "Soo...we can afford to feed another month, right?."

Shizuka, of course doesn't mind helping the poor by so "Sigh...yes, I'll cook extra tonight too. You know his address right? I'll give you some money so go together with Hinata and treat her some snacks or something on the way back." said and winked.

"Hehe, I would say we're still too young but I appreciate the support." Shizue said with a grin.

______________________________________

<Knock-knock>

"Who's there"

"Candiece"

"Candiese who?"

"Candiece nuts fit in yo...."

Haha, sorry for the bad joke. I just couldn't help it.

______________________________________

<Knock-knock>

Shizue knocked on Naruto's rundown apartment door and "Hey Naruto, are you in there?"

"Wait a moment!! I'll be right there." came a panicked voice from the inside with sounds of someone tripping and falling several times.

The door opened and Naruto head popped out "Oh hey Shizue and Hinata, what are you doing here?"

Shizue showed the package in her hands and said "I said I would sponsor your meals didn't I. So, here's your nutritious dinner."

"Y-you were being serious??" Naruto said with disbelief apparent in his tone.

Shizue looked at him and said "Of course I was. Now, aren't you going to invite us in?"

"O-oh, C-come in." Naruto absentmindedly invited them in.

Shizue and Hinata went in the apartment and saw piles of instant noodle cups everywhere. Shizue looked around and said "Damn, this place is a dumpster. And are you seriously living off only instant ramen??"

"W-why?." Naruto squeezed out a question while trembling.

"Hmm? What??" Shizue looked back at Naruto.

"W-why are you guys being so nice to me. The villagers all hate me and call me a demon. D-don't you guys hate me too?" Naruto said tears starting to come out of his eyes.

Shizue looked at Naruto and thought for a second 'Well, he's a child after all. Receiving hatred from so many people without even knowing what he did wrong must have really hurt.', and glanced at Hinata who has no idea what is going on and what to do in this situation but looks concerned 'Well, I should help him out a little more as compensation for taking away such a wonderful girl from him.'

"No, cause we aren't dumb like those people." Shizue said

"H-huh??" Naruto blurted out between his sobs ,confused.

"I mean, I noticed they hate you. But, what did you do to them to have them hate you that much?." Shizue asked.

Naruto thought for a moment and answered "I-I don't know??"

"Yes, you don't and you are seven so you couldn't possibly have done something so bad to them that they'd hate you this much at this age, could you?." Shizue asked looking straight at Naruto.

"I-I don't think so?." Naruto, who stopped crying a while said while tilting his head a little.

"Exactly! You didn't even do anything to them and they still hate you so there must have been something really wrong with their heads. Don't you think so?" Shizue said in a really convincing way.

"I-if you put it that way...." Naruto said while thinking, seeming somewhat convinced.

Hinata is standing on the side, watching the two, having no idea what in the world is going on. All she knows is Shizue is trying to convince Naruto of something and that Naruto seems to be buying it. And Naruto stopped crying so 'that must be a good thing' she thought.

Shizue didn't let Naruto dwell on it much longer and said "Don't worry about those idiots anymore. The main issue here is- do you still want to become Hokage?."

Naruto immediately stopped brooding, lifted his head and practically screamed "Of course, I'm gonna be the best Hokage ever!! I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was!! Dattebayo!!"

"Alright then, the first step to become is - clean you room!. Like seriously, clean your room!!! It's filthy in here!! You aren't becoming Hokage living I a room this filthy." Shizue pointed to the mess of the room they are currently in.

"O-okay, if that's what it takes to become Hokage. I'll make this room the cleanest room ever!!!" Naruto shouted, full of spirit.

"Haha, that's the spirit!! Eat your dinner too. And here, train what's written in it. It'll be your second step to become the greatest Hokage." Shizue tossed a written note towards Naruto. It was a physical training manual Raphael designed taking in account of Naruto's recovery ability and stamina and some beginner chakra control exercises.

Naruto looked at the note and asked "Wow! Is this a super secret training method to become the greatest Hokage??" with stars shining inside his eyes.

"Sort of ┐⁠(⁠´⁠ー⁠｀⁠)⁠┌ " Shizue shrugged. Since even though it only contains some basic and inconspicuous physical workout routines and some basic chakra control exercises , if Naruto trained them rigorously, he can still become pretty strong. He still could even without much training in the canon after all.

Naruto is looking at Shizue with shining eyes as if she was an angel descending from heavens to help him in his journey to become the greatest Hokage.

Shizue saw that and with her foresight she gained from numerous animes and novel from her previous life, decided to prevent any future cliche events.

"Okayy....I see where this is heading. Before you start developing something, I have to make something very clear."

Shizue looked into Naruto's eyes seriously and said "I love Emili*aham* Hinata. So....Not happening. And by the way Hinata is mine so that's not happening either."

"Huh????" Naruto tilted his head, not understanding what Shizue is talking about.

"H-hwe, w-what are y-you t-talking about. ⁄⁠(⁠⁄⁠ ⁠⁄⁠•⁠⁄⁠-⁠⁄⁠•⁠⁄⁠ ⁠⁄⁠)⁠⁄ " Hinata stuttered with her face crimson and steam coming out of her head.

"It's pretty obvious but I liked you since we're little. Well, we are still little but still. I'm just waiting for both of us to grow a little older. Once we are old enough, we can start dating. What, you don't like me??" Shizue said sounding confident but she's screaming in the inside.

'Oh.My.God!!!! I've done it!! I got swept with the flow!!! But still, I have to do this either way. Or, I will be stuck I the eternal hell known as friend/sister zone. But!! It's still too early!!! Ok-ok, calm down, you've got this Shizue. Use all the wisdom from all the romance anime and novels you have watched and read.'

"O-of course not. I-I-I...." Hinata stuttered, finding difficult to form words.

"Calm down Hinata, we're still too young. You don't have to worry too much about it."Shizue said and turned toward Naruto "We have to go home now. Do your training seriously Naruto and clean your room."

"O-ok" Naruto said, not understanding what just happened.

"Bye~"

"B-bye"

After walking out of Naruto's apartment, Shizue turned towards Hinata and asked"How about we treat ourselves some cinnamon rolls, mom gave me some allowance."

"O-ok" Hinata replied , still embarrassed.

"Then, to the bakery!" Shizue took Hinata's hand and walked with Skippy steps.

Hinata face became red but she didn't let go of Shizue's hand walked alongside her.

Shizue smiled at that and kept waking.

____________{End of chapter}___________